In Rockford area since: I grew up on Rockford’s west side and moved away for college, but we returned to our old neighborhood in 2009.

Transform Rockford involvement: Facilitator for visioning sessions and member of analysis team

Quote: For me, the shared value of “Ideation,” TR’s goal of balancing and enriching our brainstorming and decision-making process with all points of view and measurable information, is key to the success of our transformation. As a facilitator for this spring’s visioning sessions, I had the good fortune to join in the brainstorming of groups as varied and interesting as, for example, residents of the Signal Hill neighborhood on the west side, young parents in a midtown MELD group, members of the area’s Laotian community and students from Rockford Lutheran High School. These experiences have given me a renewed appreciation for the rich diversity of our community and the real potential of the tremendously talented and committed people in the region who are answering the call to help transform Rockford.

What’s new at Transform Rockford: You may not see stories about it every day on TV or in the newspaper, but TR’s growing team of volunteers continues to be very busy. Many volunteers have been working to organize all the ideas and suggestions gathered during the visioning sessions, creating the first draft of the Vision Statement and the 12 Impact Statements, which were presented at the Vision Rally at the Coronado this month. Others will be reaching out and continuing conversations with our fellow Rockfordians during the summer months and into the fall at events like City Market on Friday evenings in downtown Rockford.

What’s next: It is time for more input and impact from community members. As the Rockford Register Star noted recently, “It will be people who make the difference, and ... Rockford people are ready to work for a better community.” Here’s one way to participate: Let the Transform Rockford volunteer team know what you think of the draft of the Vision Statement and the 12 Impact Statements. This feedback will help the team prepare the final Vision Statement later this summer.

Community members can deliver feedback in a variety of ways, including, for example, visiting transformrockford.org/communication, or by stopping at the Transform Rockford booths this summer at City Market or at Tuesday Evenings in the Gardens at Anderson Gardens.

Transform Rockford is also ready for people in the community to take on roles to help create strategies for putting the Vision Statement into action. Transform Rockford needs people who are neighborhood leaders, church leaders, community-group leaders, etc. to say “yes” to involvement in the planning process. You can contact the team online at transformrockford.org/we-need-volunteers. Folks with strategic planning experience, for example, or people with a process management background will be particularly valuable in this next phase of TR, but everyone can contribute.